We had another great craft session last week, which involved designing our own mugs and glasses. Members had a great time, while learning a new skill. Thanks to Cheryl from the Parent Network for helping out, and thanks to Caerphilly Cwtsh for funding the activity.
This week we held our third workshop with Groundwork Wales at Taraggan Educational Gardens & Nursery. The group planted herbs, purple mustard, oregano, coriander, parsley, rocket, and broad beans. Many thanks to Rachel and the team from Groundwork for another enjoyable session.
It was great to see everyone at our crafts session yesterday, where we took part in a scrabble art workshop. We used scrabble letters and glitter to make name frames. Thanks to Cheryl from The Parent Network for running the session; she will be joining us again next week when members will personalise their own mug. Thank you to Caerphilly Cwtsh Community & Localgiving (Magic Little Grant) for funding this activity.
This week the focus group had a meeting with Mandy from the Welsh Ambulance Service. At the workshop we learnt about the 7 important checks ambulance staff will do to find out what is wrong. The 7 checks are:
1. Temperature (how hot or cold you are)
2. Blood Pressure (how hard your heart is beating)
3. Oxygen Levels (how much oxygen is in your blood)
4. Pulse (how fast your heart is beating)
5. Breathing- Ambulance staff will watch your chest to see if you are breathing ok.
6. Blood sugar levels (how much sugar you have in your blood)
7. Pain score (how much does it hurt?)
We also talked about what happens when you call 999.
This week we attended our second workshop with Groundwork Wales. We planted onions and lettuce, and learnt about different types of mint and tiger nuts. We planted the onions and lettuce into small pots, and we will transfer them into the ground when they begin to grow. We also took some cuttings from two types of mint plants (mint and strawberry & mint and pineapple) and planted the cuttings into hanging baskets, so they will have plenty of room to grow. Rachel showed us the grapes they are growing in the polytunnel, and they tasted delicious.
This week we met with Groundwork Wales to begin our eight week gardening course at TARAGGAN Educational Gardens & Nursery. During the first week of the course we learned how to sow seeds, and planted garlic, spinach, spring onions and radish. We finished the session by digging up the remainder of our potatoes we planted many weeks ago. We look forward to meeting with Rachel and the team again next week.
During the afternoon we attended our first yoga session with Michelle from Sweetpea Yoga, Reiki & Guided Meditation. We’d like to thank everyone who attended – it was lovely to see some new faces from our community. We all enjoyed a lovely relaxed yoga session with gentle exercise, followed by tea, coffee and cake. This event was kindly funded by Caerphilly Cwtsh Community.
On Monday 5th September Ffion Poole and Sam Evans delivered a Safeguarding training session to staff at the Islwyn Park Coffee shop. It was great to be back out in the community delivering our sessions, and we’d like to thank the group for for having us. We can’t wait to do more training in the future, so if anyone would like us to deliver training on Safeguarding, Learning Disability Awareness, or Ambulance Training, please get in touch.
We recently did some filming alongside Cwm Taff People First at the University of South Wales simulation suite. The film will be used to educate medical staff, using the experiences of patients in hospital. Ffion and Natalie dressed up and played the role of Paramedics, and Christy acted out the part of Dr Strange. Although this is a very serious subject we had lots of giggles during the filming.
As usual, the Focus Group spent Tuesday morning at Taraggan Educational Gardens, and this week was spent harvesting beetroot and potatoes. Beetroot can be harvested from early summer through to mid-autumn, depending on time and variety, and are rich in folate which plays a key role in controlling damage to blood vessels, which can reduce the risk of heart disease and stroke.
The afternoon session was spent making chocolate shredded wheat cakes. These are easy to make and taste delicious. We melted the chocolate in the microwave and mixed it into a bowl of shredded wheat. We then spooned the mix into the cupcake cases and popped them into the fridge to set (except some didn’t make it to the fridge). Thanks to Amanda from The Parent Network for helping out and supplying the ingredients.
Today we held the second workshop in our relationship course. We spoke about LGBTQIA+, what those letters represent, and what it means to be Lesbian / Gay / Bisexual / Transgender / Queer / Intersex / Asexual. The + represents those who do not identify as any of these. As well as this, the group discussed what it means to identify as non-binary, and how to be an ally and show support to LGBTQIA+ people. We also talked about what the colours in the Pride flag represent. Nicole spoke about the drag project she does in her spare time, and we watched a video of a drag queen talking about their experiences. We will be at Pride Cymru this weekend, so we hope to see you there.
